during the monroe years, you have the canal being dug in new york that will transform the economy. you have the road under construction from the capital to what is now west virginia. we had a whole debate going on about internal improvements and what the role of the federal government should be and all that. this is a country poised for economic take off. much like a light eisenhower presided -- >> as you work your way, how much evidence is there about elizabeth monroe? >> there is not a lot. based upon what her elder daughter reported, at some point after he left the presidency, monroe burned all personal correspondence. there is one letter that survives that is written by elisabeth. there is one letter from james to her that survived. what baffles me and drives me nuts is there is only one letter she wrote to somebody else. she had extensive correspondence with her sister and friends and these letters do not seem to be anywhere. i do not understand why not. it seems like somebody would have kept some of these. consequently, having firsthand evidence of what she thought about thin